SHAMAN
by nareboshi
Summary: AU While practicing for his part in a school play, Naruto accidentally summons the fire demon Sasuke. Unable to send him back to the demon realm till the next full moon, what will Naruto do with this fiery demon?
1. The Summoning

Haha. A new story! I'm still debating whether this will be yaoi or not, but until further notice, it isn't. I want to draw a chapter cover for this... Tauton is a real school, but I only jacked the name since I couldn't think of anyother good boarding school names. I also jacked a few ideas from an original story of mine, so some parts may seem familar to a select few ^^

Disclaimer: I own no characters in this, despite the fact that I abuse them and make them do things they would otherwise not do. The characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

I hope this all makes sense since I took a long time to write it (heck 9 pages man!) PLEASE ENJOY!

This is the cover I did after uploading this: .com/art/SHAMAN-cover-108267260

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The snow was swirling in circles, frosting up the windows at the edges, when Naruto finally made it back to his cold, dark dorm after English class. It had been in one of the classrooms in the the old school building on the edge of the campus. The reason for this was that the roof of the new one had caved in due to the heavy snowfall they were getting. It was only just getting into December yet the trees were already laden with snow and the roads going to and from the boarding school were all covered in sleet, making it near impossible to traverse them. The school was grid locked.

This was Naruto Uzumaki's second year here at Tauton, his boarding school here in England, and he hated it. He hated the teachers. He hated the weather. He hated classes. He even hated the morter holding the buildings together. In fact he had tried to run away from this 'hell-hole'. Twice. But now that he was in his second and one year from last year, he had given up wishing to be out of the place. He knew there was nothing he could do about it so now just lived through life, a daily routine of waking up, going to each of the boring classes, laughing a bit with friends, then do homework back in the dorms and sleep. Rinse, lather and repeat.

Tauton had a day school program running so that many of Naruto's classmates actually left the school at the end of the day and returned in the morning. Naruto and his other boarders called them 'day-scum'. But as this bad weather had set in, all the students had become boarders and because of this, many of the dorms were packed to the brim with day-scum. Naruto's, however, was as empty as ever, consisting of just him, Kiba Inuzuka and Gaara Sunakami. The reason for this, was that for one thing, the dorm was in great disrepair, with boards creaking in the stairs and nails falling out of the ceiling. The second reason was the rumors that surrounded the dorm about how it was infested with ghosts and demons.

The one thing that Naruto liked about Tauton, was his classmates. Though he wasn't exactly close to any of them, he did find their company enjoyable. Sometimes they would play pranks on teachers, get found and reprimanded together. It was this aspect of the boarding school that reminded Naruto most of his old school back in Japan.

Back in Japan, Naruto had been the classclown, the classes entertainment during strict assemblies and exams. He hadn't felt like he had belonged back there, but at least he felt that he did more back there than here.

Dropping his faded, orange rucksack to the floor next to his dilapidated bed, Naruto shrugged off his equally faded orange jacket onto the floor and sat down on it, leaning against his bed. Breathing deeply he shut his blue eyes, his head lulling to one side. That day of school had been more tiring than usual as on their way to class, he and his friends had been caught in a snowball fight and had made it late to class, snow all over them. Naruto smirked at the memory, experiencing it again behind his shut lids. It had been fun getting snow all over the classroom and to actually have a reason for not doing his homework. He had said that he had done it, but it had gotten wet in the snow. Naturally this was a down right lie, but there was no actual way the teacher could prove this as such.

Even though it had been his decision, Naruto hadn't truly wanted to come to England. He had decided that he would when his father became engaged to his fourth wife in just five years. His father wasn't actually his biological one. His biological one had died many years ago and his wife, Naruto's mother, had remarried, to this player. She then died five years ago. The doctors said it was because of a weak heart, but Naruto knew it was because she had taken pills when she found out her husband had been having an affair. Naruto still blamed his 'father' for her death

What seemed like minutes later, Naruto opened his eyes again and found the room much darker than it was earlier. Still groggy, he felt around in the dark and found his watch. He fumbled around with it for a few seconds and finally managed to get the small face of the digital watch to emit a light green light. From this limited light Naruto read off it five forty-five. He had slept for

Naruto groaned and reached for his bag, pulling out a pile of bound paper. He stood and turned on his desk light as he sat down at his desk. On the front of it was the single word SHAMAN, then a few notes scrawled under it in dark blue pen. It was the script for a film that the class would be filming as part of their grade for the year. It was the main project, and the teachers had told them it would account for nearly half their grade. Naruto flipped the book open, skimming over the first few pages, but turning the when he found that they only contained the title page a few times and yet more notes on something that Naruto didn't bother to find out by reading.

The main character of the story was a boy who had suddenly woken up in a strange world. He had then been found by a hundred year old Shaman, Naruto's character. At some point during the story, the Shaman summoned a fire demon in a forest in winter in order to do something. Naruto hadn't gotten that far yet in the story. He had been goofing off with Kiba, playing pranks on the Gaara.

Naruto stretched and looked out his window. It had stopped snowing outside. The blonde grinned and threw on his jacket again, grabbed the manuscript and ran out the door, pulling a scarf from a hook on the wall as he did. What a better way to practice a snowing scene than in a snow covered place? Besides, Kiba and Gaara wouldn't be coming back that night. They were both sleeping over at another dorm. Gaara because of a physics project, and Kiba just for the heck of it. No one had invited Naruto.

The temperature felt below freezing as Naruto ran out into the snow. Most of the lights in the school were on so an eerie glow emanated off the white expanse around him. Naruto grinned and ran into the forest. It was darker between the trees and immensely colder. Naruto wrapped his scarf around his neck a few more times and continued into the trees. Apon finding a small clearing within the trees with a dead stump at it's centre, Naruto decided that this was far enough and set the bound papers on the stump as he shuffled on the spot, rubbing his hands together. He was so glad that he hadn't remember to take off his gloves when he first got back to his room.

Picking up the manuscript again, Naruto flipped quickly to the summoning scene. He had found it the most interesting scene so far in the story so while still in class he'd stolen a wad of Sakura's sticky tabs and wadded a few to the pages. They were pink so they showed up easily in the near darkness.

Walking in a circle around the stump, Naruto ran quickly through the lines, reciting them under his breath. Out of all his classmates, Naruto was probably the best at acting and nearly the best in memorization. But only when it came to things that interested him. When it came to boring subjects you'd have a better chance at making a cactus memorize it than making Naruto do it.

"The lines are so specific..." Naruto grumbled as he stopped circling the stump and sat down on it, still mulling over the lines. Normally movements of the actors were up to the director of the scene or even up the actors themselves. This time, however, the steps and even the directs Naruto was to face were clearly outlined under each line of text, lined up so that he knew what sign he was to do when.

A sudden gust of wind knocked the booklet from Naruto's hands. Cursing slightly he went to retrieve it from the base of a tree to which it had been flung to. Opening it again he noticed that under the title of the scene was a small, handwritten note. It took Naruto a few seconds to realize he had it upside down. Grumbling to himself he flipped it the right way around and read it.

"Caution. Not to be performed under full moon."

Naruto smirked. _Niiiiice. Oh and guess what? It's a full moon tonight!_ Suddenly full of energy, the blonde jumped to his feet and ran back to the stump, taking a position near it so that the moon was to his back.

"Lets see!" he exclaimed out loud. "Kyou Rin Ten Sa! Uhh, Shima Su Na!" he read as he paced eight steps around the stump, one for each word as he scuffed a circle into the ground. "Oh wait, I said that wrongly..." Realizing his mistake, Naruto returned to his first position around the stump and started again. "Kyou Rin Ten Sa, Shima Tsu Na. Shin Ra Ban Sho U, uhh, Dan Kyou Shou." He was now on the other side of the stump, looking toward the moon. He held his hands out in front of him and clapped them together three times. "This looks so stupid..." But he continued nonetheless. He then clasped his hands together in the fire seal, after having found it at the back of the manuscript, then crouched down and placed his right hand firmly on the ground.

"Summoning Complete! Now I just need to be able to do it without the book..."

Standing, Naruto returned to his stump and sat down on it, skimming over the lines again, oblivious to the trouble he had just brought forth. As it happened, the spell that the shaman in the story had performed brought up a fire demon, one of the most powerful in the Demon Realm.

Naruto yawned and put the bound paper next to him, taking the next few minutes to look up at the sky. It had been cloudy that day, with a few drizzling patches of rain, but now the sky was as clear as untainted glass, embossed with thousands of tiny pin pricks of light. Up to his right, the moon shone as brilliantly as ever, giving much light down in the clearing. It was because of it that Naruto had been able to read the manuscript, but it was also because of it that Naruto's life would be utterly and irreversibly changed.

A chill ran down Naruto's spine. _I've been out here too long..._ he mused to himself as he picked up himself up and brushed the snow that had gathered on his clothes. It had started to snow lightly again and now there were wet patches in Naruto's hair. He'd have to have a shower. How annoying.

The blonde sighed and looked up at the sky one last time. He was about to look away when suddenly the moon changed. It had become blood red. Shocked, Naruto stumbled back, tripping on a root. As he fell to the ground he noticed that it had stopped snowing. No. There was snow still in the air, it was just frozen there. Time had stopped.

Naruto eyes were wide as he looked around him to find the source of this, his ragged breathing the only sound. He raised a hand to rub his eyes in an effort to dispel this illusion. As he did he noticed there was something red on it.

"Snow..."

The snow had turned to red. Naruto threw the snow from his hand and tried to skitter back from it. He couldn't. He was rooted in place. Something flashed up above him and Naruto looked up to see what could be a star shoot down towards him. It too was red. The star landed in front of his feet making him cry out involuntarily. In response to this unearthly impact the ground moaned and creaked, a split suddenly spidering out from where the star hit. Again Naruto tried to get up, but he was still gripped by fear and also... exhilaration?

The ground suddenly split wide open and red light shone up from the crack, traveling across the ground all around Naruto to form circles and runes. Naruto yelped when one of these lines touched him. It was blazing hot.

Another suddenly flash of light brought Naruto's eyes back to where the star had landed. A figure was coming out of the ground. Naruto's teeth chattered and his arms shook, but he could neither run nor take his eyes off of what was coming out of the ground.

The light around the hole shone brightly once then completely vanished, allowing Naruto to more properly see what had come out of the hole. The circles and runes on the ground also started to fade, as did the unseen shackles that had kept Naruto rooted to the ground.

Still shaking, Naruto got to his feet, wincing when something wet touched his cheek. He blinked. The world was no longer red and the snow was falling again. The ground too had no sign of having cracked.

Gritting his teeth Naruto trudged warily to the body lying slightly curled on the ground that was the only evidence that anything out of the ordinary had happened. As he neared, he noticed a few things about the body. One, that it appeared human, two, it looked to be around his age, give or take a few years, and three, it had two, twisted horns protruding out of it's head, one on each side. Naruto shivered and this had nothing to do with the cold. _What exactly is this thing?_

Naruto took a more steps towards the curled, humanoid body and crouched down next to it. It appeared to be male, and had jet black hair and very pale skin. Another strange thing about his appearance, other than the horns, was that he wore only Japanese styled tunic with a thick band of cloth around it over britchers that came down only to his knees. Far from ideal in this cold, winter weather.

Suddenly feeling concerned for the well being of this strange creature, Naruto reached out and touched his forehead, but retracted quickly. It was burning hot.

"Demon..." Naruto murmured to himself, then blinked. Where had that come from? Seemingly at the sound of his voice, the creature on the ground opened his eyes. Red and whirling they trained on Naruto, boring through him, rooting him to the spot. Naruto said sticking out his hand. After staring at it for a few seconds, the creature slowly grasped it and Naruto pulled him to his feet.

"I'm surprised you were able to summon me, Naruto," the creature said. Naruto's eyes widen at not only that this creature could talk but that he knew his name. "How _did_ you summon me?"

Naruto automatically presented the manuscript. The creature took it and flipped through it, but Naruto saw nothing. _What the heck is going on?!_ Was all he thought, other than that, all other processes in the poor blonde's mind were flat lining.

"W-wait," Naruto finally managed to say once his control over his mouth was returned to him. The creature looked up from the manuscript at him, and even in Naruto's confusion he was able to notice that there was something wrong with the red eyes that looked at him. Around the unusually small, black pupils was a ring of black with commas set facing out from it, two in his right eye and one in his left.

"What is it?"

At first Naruto was lost for words, then they all came. At the same time.

"Who are you? No, _what_ are you? Where did you come from? How did you get here? Are those horns real? What was that... lights display before? And and... what's up with your eyes?!" Naruto paused for breath and to give the other some time to respond. During this time he felt curiously deflated after letting go of that torrent, which also helped him to think and observe. At Naruto's outburst, the creature's eyes became sad and … pained.

"You don't- no, I suppose it was stupid of me to think you would remember," the creature said, trailing off at the end so that it was only because of the silence in the forest around them that Naruto had been able to hear him.

"Remember?" Naruto asked, his head again swirling. "Remember what?"

"Nothing," was the reply.

"Bu-"

"You've forgotten. If you're meant to know it, you'll remember it. It's not my duty to tell you." Miffed at this abrupt stop, it took Naruto a few moment to formulate what he would say next.

"Then tell me what the hell you are," he finally said. He didn't think that this was the best way to continue the conversation and would probably provoke the horned creature, but Naruto was so fed up that he decided that he didn't care and would take whatever shouting that came his way. A hardened wall seemed to go up.

"I am a Warlord of the Uchiha clan and the loyal vassal to the Overlord," the creature replied. Naruto noticed that again that pain crossed his eyes when he said the word 'Overlord'. _I wonder who that is..._ he thought to himself.

"What's your name?" Naruto asked. The creature looked taken aback by this question. "Well you already know my name," Naruto mumbled, half to himself. This seemed to change the creature's mind.

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke," he replied. Naruto brightened, noting the asian order of names. He held out a hand to shake, grinning widely for a reason he couldn't explain. He was just bursting with happiness.

"Nice to meet you, Sasuke," he said. Sasuke made to shake his hand but stopped halfway, looking down almost as if he was avoiding Naruto's stare.

"I'm also a … demon."

--

He had decided that this _had_ to all be a dream. It had to be. There was no way that there was a demon standing in his room, sipping on a cup of tea. If he got anything out of this dream, then he could probably regurgitate it for a creative English assignment that the teacher had been hinting would come their way for a month.

"You didn't answer my question from earlier," Naruto blurted out. He didn't particularly like silence, and the one that he had just ended was far too prickly for his tastes.

"And which one was that?" Sasuke asked, looking down at his tea while he swirled it gently with small movements of his hand. Somehow this small gesture distracted Naruto and he had to replay the last few seconds to remember what was happening.

"Where did you come from?" Naruto reprized. He did want this question answered, but there were others that he was more interested in. However, he didn't want to antagonize the demon. Not yet anyway. Besides, he didn't even know what the hell he could do.

"I suppose you could say you summoned me from the Demon Realm," the demon responded before taking another gulp of tea, clearly not going to elaborate.

"Uhh... right. So you live in the Demon Realm. Where exactly _is_ that? In China?"

"No, idiot, it's not in China," Sasuke began to reply testily. Naruto scowled at him. "It's part of a separate universe, parallel to this one." Naruto made no motion to say he understood. He didn't. "It's like a carbon copy earth that is occupying the same space as this one, but on a different … wavelength."

"I see..." Naruto said. "So there's like, an England and stuff, right?"

"Precisely."

"So you live in … the 'Demon Realm' equivalent to Japan?" Naruto said, using his fingers to make quotations around 'Demon Realm'.

"Sure."

"Ah... so that explains," Naruto said, gesturing to what Sasuke was wearing.

"Quite," came the dry reply.

"Wait, but then, if you're in the Demon Realm Japan, how did you get to England?" Naruto asked, as he tried to catalogue all this new information in his brain and having little success. "Wait, how does that even work?" At first Sasuke said nothing, appearing to think of how to explain. Eventually he placed his cup of tea on Naruto's desk.

"Do have a piece of paper I could use?"

"Uhh, yeah," Naruto replied as he started to rifle through his rucksack.

It was six in the morning on Saturday and neither Kiba or Gaara had come back since the night before. If it wasn't for the demon in his room, Naruto would have been slightly inclined to go out and find out what had happened to the two of them, but because of the aforementioned reason, he had confined himself to his room until further notice.

Lastnight, Naruto had fallen asleep while still in the clearing and had woken up in his room that morning. On asking the demon, he had said that he'd carried him back to the room and used the key in Naruto's pocket to open the door. The key also had the dorm and room number on it which explained how he was able to know which dorm it was.

After flipping through a clear slip folder and finding it void of a blank piece of paper, Naruto finally decided to just rip a piece out of his Science lab book. Like the teacher was going to count the pages.

"Here," he said, handing the paper to Sasuke. The later took it and set it on the table, picking up a pencil that had fallen out of Naruto's rucksack in his search and now using it to draw a few lines.

"Between the human earth and the Demon Realm, there is a … thin veil which separates the two onto different planes," he said drawing three lines, gesturing to the central one. "This veil works as a barrier and stops anything from either side going to the other side. However, some parts of the veil are thinner and can be seen through, like a one way mirror. We can see you, but you can't see us. I guess you could say we're on a higher plane. Then this top part," he made a light circle around the section between the top and middle line, "is the Demon Realm. And this," he made another circle, this time around the section between the middle and bottom lines, "is the human realm. Are you keeping up?"

"... Sure," Naruto said though this wasn't a hundred percent true. "So how does this summoning thing work? Do demons just … walk through this veil and end up in the same place where they were in the Demon Realm?" At this last part he used his finger to trace a path from the top section of the diagram, through the middle line and into the lower section.

"Right," Sasuke replied. "But as I said before, the veil is a barrier, so we can't just walk through it. Either we use a gate, which is one of those thinner areas of the veil, or we use another means to get around it."

"Like what?"

"Magic."

"Magic? So like, how?"

"There are two ways to use magic to cross the veil," Sasuke started to say, "the most common way is to make a small opening or gate at one of the weaker spots of the veil. There are even gates which are open all the time and they're called Death Gates. Don't ask," he added when Naruto opened his mouth to ask why they were called that.

"So what's the other way?"

"The other way is to teleport past the veil by using an Interdimensional Disc. Now, these are rather rare and extremely expensive, so not everyone has one. The government also puts guidelines on who can have them."

"Why?"

"The government, much like your human one, likes to have complete or near complete knowledge on all the happens in their jurisdiction. Now, if there was a way to move between the Demon Realm and the human one instantaneously and in any position on earth, then the government wouldn't be too happy as it would increase smuggling of illegal goods and such."

"I see... Wait, so if you live in Japan and you just were in Japan, then how come you're in England on this side of the veil?" Naruto asked. He had finally managed to catalog about half the information and though he wasn't nearly done the other half, he wanted to find out more.

"Apparently you teleported me here when you summoned me," the demon said dryly. Naruto's mouth formed an 'o'.

"How?"

"How should I know?" Sasuke picked up his tea again and finished it. "You were the one doing the summoning." At this Naruto scowled but he couldn't think of anything that could serve as a comeback so he stayed silent.

"Do you... have a tail?" he asked finally. He had been wondering this since that morning when he'd notice small, leathery, bat-like wings protruding out of Sasuke's back. Upon repeated questioning, Sasuke had told him that, yes, he could fly, but that he had to extend them more.

"A tail? Not in this form. I do in a higher form."

"Higher form? What's that?"

"Later. Where do you get breakfast here?" the demon said as he walked out to the main living room of the dorm. Naruto scowled but got off his seat and followed, grabbing up a few articles of clothes as he did. He threw them at Sasuke.

"You can't just go outside dressed like that," Naruto explained when Sasuke turned, eyes narrowed. "You need to also wear a hat. People will freak if they see your horns." _Much like how I did_, Naruto thought to himself but he didn't say this out loud. No need tell the demon he was a coward.

"You didn't freak," Sasuke replied calmly as he pulled the hoodie over his head.

"That's just because you're just a-"

"Hallucination?"

Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke guessed it right. Feeling guilty for basically saying that he didn't think he was real, Naruto looked down at the ground, unconsciously scuffing his feet on the ground.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's not really a problem," the demon said. Naruto looked up and found that he'd already put the jeans he'd thrown at him on. "Whether you think I'm real or not, doesn't matter to me. Keeping you alive does." Naruto had just picked a brimmed beanie off his bed to hand to Sasuke, but at this latest information Naruto's hand stopped halfway.

"Keep me alive?"

Sasuke took the beanie from Naruto's hand and pulled it onto his head, effectively covering the horns. From the look on his face, Naruto guessed that the demon hadn't planned to let that slip out. Pulling at the neck of the hoodie, Sasuke exposed a section of skin over his right shoulder near the collarbone.

"See that?" He let go of the fabric and it moved back to wear it was before. "That's a curse seal. It was put there when you summoned me and it indicates that my … lifeline is connected to yours."

"Lifeline? What?"

"Basically it means that if you get cut, the same cut will show up on me. Same pain, same blood loss," Sasuke explained as he opened the door and walked through it. He didn't hold it out for Naruto so the blonde had to lurch forward to catch the door. _Bastard..._

"So uhh... if I die, then you'll die too huh?"

"Right. The curse also works the other way too, so if I get hurt, so will you."

"Oh dear..." Naruto murmured. He himself was clumsy enough, causing himself dozens of injuries throughout the course of a day and now not just he would get hurt if his body suddenly decided to fall down the stairs. They were now at the end of the corridor, about to take the stairs down to the ground floor. "How long are you going to be here then?"

"I'm stuck here until the next full moon," came the reply.

"How come?"

"The summoning spell only works under a full moon, idiot. It even said it on your paper," Sasuke said as he stepped off the last stair at the bottom of the staircase. Naruto followed suit. _So I'm stuck with a demon for a month. How do I even know if that crap about the curse seal is true, then he might kill me any second._ But complaint only came from a small voice in his head, the rest of him was observing a certain someone who was now walking with a few of her girl friends on the other side of the bushes that lined the path to the dorms and all the school buildings. They were walking toward the cafeteria, same as he and demon were. Naruto's mood lightened a few decimals.

"Sakura!" he called, slightly jogging to meet her. Behind him he knew that Sasuke was still walking, but like that mattered. The girl with the long pink hair turned, her eyes softening as she saw him. She smiled and said something to her friends. They continued to walk on while she waited there on the path.

"Good morning, Naruto," she said when he stopped in front of her, smiling. She bobbed a little to the side to look past Naruto. "Who's your friend?" Naruto turned to see who she was talking about, but he already knew. Who else was behind him?

"Oh, this is S-"

"SASUKE-SAMA!" Naruto's head snapped to look back at Sakura. _She knows him?! But he's a-a-_ "Do you remember me?" Sakura gushed as she ran up to him. "I'm Haruno Sakura, from the seventh squad!" She pulled her hair into two long pig tails on either side of her head with two hands. "Remember me?"

"Unfortunately," he replied, which pissed Naruto off. _He shouldn't just squander her affections like that!_

"You know Sasuke, Sakura?" Naruto asked Sakura. She turned back to him and blushed, about to answer, but it was Sasuke who replied.

"I used to be the head of her squad back in the Demon Realm," he said indifferently. He started to walk toward the cafeteria and both Naruto and Sakura quickened the catch up.

"Wait, so you mean that Sakura's a-"

"Demon. Yes." Naruto nearly fainted there and then. The girl he had been in love with since he had come here was a demon.

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Yes, I have been playing Disgaea way too much *Laharl, Laharl, Laharl* Please review and tell me what you thought of it. It will take me quite some time to come up with the next chapter, 1) because I put a lot of effort into writing so much, and 2) because school is almost back in session. I have a little bit of a plan for this story, which is good. ^^ Cheers!


	2. Snow White

OTL I'm so sorry this took such a long time. I wrote this at a glacial pace. I lost inspiration to write so many times. I have an idea for where this story is going thankfully ^^ Thank The Bartemius Trilogy for getting my inspiration for writing back. I hope you enjoy this 10 page chapter xD

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Naruto toyed with the fresh snow that he'd scooped up off the ground and laid on the table. It was melting fast, but he didn't care. He didn't really care about anything at that point of time. Sakura was a demon! The last of the snow melted and Naruto slouched down onto the table in a very bad mood. Around the circular table with Naruto sat Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was babbling to Sasuke. Sasuke was eating breakfast while ignoring Sakura. Naruto was left out. Full stop.

He hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before but due to the new developments in his life, Naruto didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, he felt a little sick. Brushing the snow that had decided life as condensed water was too much and had turned back to water, Naruto pushed back from the table and stood.

"Cya later," Naruto muttered. Sasuke looked up, showing he hadn't and wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to Sakura.

"Hn. Don't die."

Naruto scowled at him and walked to the door that led into the cafeteria and eventually out of that too and back onto the main campus. Reaching the exit of the cafeteria itself, cold snow billowed into him as he opened the door, but he was grateful for this. It helped cool his head and mind and also set his priorities in order. But the first one stayed the same. Get the hell away.

Stepping out into the fresh snow, Naruto took a deep breath and struck out in a random direction. The cold air had done wonders to keep his temper from boiling over, but they were still in great disarray. Naruto stopped and found that he had walked his way up to the old cemetery, a recent addition to the ownership of the school but the actual cemetery was hundreds of years old. When Naruto had first come to the school, he had often sort out the quiet, silence that it provided, invariably making it his haunt. But in more recent months he had started to come here less and less after he had made friends with more of his classmates, they not being so quick to judge this year than last.

There was a solitary tree at the top of the hill, robbed of all its leaves at present, and Naruto made for it, threading through tombstones and ancient vases of flowers that had long lost their contents. While standing next to the tree at the height of the rising land, it was possible to see nearly the entire cemetery. Only a few of the oldest and most crumbling slabs of rock were hidden from sight as they lay within the forest that bordered the entire campus. It was the same forest that Naruto had ventured into the night before.

Naruto dispelled thought of the night before and dropped down to sit at the foot of the tree. The tree's trunk was fairly hard and rough, but Naruto's jacket kept him from the worst of it and he was able to sit there at ease and watch the small songbirds who twittered around the tombstones.

A chill suddenly ran down Naruto's back and he knew that someone was there with him. A few footsteps behind him confirmed his suspicions. Looking over his shoulder Naruto found someone behind him, but he was unable to see their face as the sun shone right behind them. The person moved a little so that they completely shut out the sun. Naruto recognized her.

"Naruto-kun."

"Oh, Hinata-chan," Naruto replied automatically. Of all the people at the school, despite the large amount of Japanese students, Hinata Hyuuga was the only person who still used Japanese honorifics. Naruto supposed that she probably came from a rich, influential family, and was taught these ways since a young age. But of course, he didn't know this for certain.

"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she sat down next to Naruto, smoothing her skirt once she was settled. She was a very neat, shy sort of person. The year before she had been unable to speak to anyone due to her stuttering. But something had happened during the summer break and this year she was as eloquent as any native speaker, even though English was not her native tongue.

"No reason," Naruto replied. He'd always liked Hinata. Not in the same way as Sakura, but he did find it easy to talk to the purple head. They had first met on the first day in orientation, neither of them knowing what to do. Naturally, they had stuck together that first day. "What are you doing here?"

"No reason," Hinata replied back, smiling. Naruto smirked and returned to gazing at the birds.

"Have you ever felt jealous?" he asked suddenly. Normally, he would never ask anyone this question, but this was Hinata he was talking to. She would never tell anyone.

"I suppose so. Why this so sudden?"

Naruto kept his eyes on the tombstones when he replied, trying to keep the lie out of his tone.

"No reason," he said, recycling Hinata's response to his question from before. He nearly smirked when he caught the calous expression pointed at him. "What?" She turned away from him and drew her legs up, hugging them under her chin. From her new sitting position Naruto was able to observe her more easily. Her hair was longer than it had been before the summer and she had definitely filled out more. _Oh shut up._

A bird twittering around one broken tombstone, suddenly took flight, alerting his flock to some unknown threat. Naruto watched them with vague interest as the swarm took to the skies and circled a few times in it before flying over his head and away to the other side of the school. What had spooked them?

"You're not very happy right now are you?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he became glad that Hinata's back was turned to him so that she didn't see him wince.

"Not too happy, but surviving," he offered. "Are you going anywhere with that question?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Hinata had now turned back to face him, now lying back against the tree.

"You just don't seem like your happy-bumbling-self today, that's all," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "It's got something to do with Sakura-chan, hasn't it?" Naruto's face betrayed him before he could spit out a retort. Hinata laughed as his red face. "Don't even try to lie about it," she said, "Those rosy cheeks of yours have already told me the story."

"Hmph." Naruto pouted and turned away. He dug his hands into the snow, got them thoroughly cold then slapped them to his cheeks in an effort to get them back to their normal complexion. It didn't work as well as he thought, and in the end he just got a cold face.

"Naruto," a small voice said. Naruto looked up at Hinata automatically at the call of his name. "I know you already know this, but you can tell me anything. I promise I won't tell a soul. Living or dead." Naruto's lip twitched slightly into a smile at her last point.

"I know," he replied, stretching and getting to his feet. Hinata looked a little alarmed at his sudden change of posture. "Don't worry, little Hina-chan, I'm not going to leave a cute little girl to the ghosts in the cemetary."

Hinata smiled, her smile reaching her eyes making the area to the sides of her light eyes wrinkle in reaction. Naruto grinned back. It was always very calming to talk to Hinata.

"It has got something to do with Sakura," Naruto said, not daring to look at the purple head girl sitting next to him. Instead he again looked out at where the birds had been. What had scared them? He could see nothing which could have done so. "Actually, it _is_ about Sakura." He paused and hazarded a glance at Hinata. She was smiling as sweetly as before, but Naruto sensed a sort of triumph emanating out of her. He sighed. "I'm just jealous that's all," he said finally.

"Of someone who seems to have secured Sakura-chan's affections?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at the high level of English used to address the statement, but made no comment of it.

"Yeah." Naruto suddenly deflated and sat back down on the ground. Heart break was never a very rational experience. "Turns out she's known the guy for years and she-" here Naruto nearly blurted out what he had been so shocked to find out that morning. But a certain measure of self restraint within him stopped him from speaking this truth. _What would Hinata react like if I told her that Sakura's a... anyway._

"Does he like her? Or is it a girl that you feel jealous of?"

"Nah, nah, it's a guy," Naruto said hastily. If there was one thing that scared him more than demons, it was girl on girl love. It made chills go down his back just thinking about it. "Definitely a guy." A sudden image of Sasuke spouted in his head. "A very annoying, thickheaded guy..." Hinata laughed.

"Yes, you're very jealous." Naruto scowled and hugged his knees to his chest.

"It's not my fault..." he started to say, mumbling into his trousers. Hinata sighed.

"Well, to tell you the brutal truth, it kind of is," she said, raising a hand to rest on Naruto's shoulder.

"How come? I didn't ask Sasuke to come here," he said, but quickly closed his mouth and guiltily looked away. In a way he _had_ asked Sasuke here. In a way. Kind of. It's not like he'd meant it! It was all because of that darn script's fault; putting ways to summon demons in it. As if no one would try.

"I'm not sure how to explain to you _why_ it's your fault, but I can tell you this," Hinata said. Naruto looked up as she paused, waiting on baited breath for what she was going to say next. "You have only two options: one is to continue to sit here and mope about your problems, pretending that you're the victim-" here she raised a hand to silence Naruto who han opened his mouth to protest "- even if you think you really are the victim. Or, two, you can stand up, brush yourself off, and do something about it."

"Like what?"

"Like stealing the girl back." Naruto's mouth formed a small 'o' as understanding dawned on him as to what Hinata was saying.

"I see, I see," he said, dropping a fist into his other open hand. Hinata smiled again.

"Precisely," she said, rising to her feet. She brushed the snow off her clothes and slightly swished her hair to get the white powder out of that too. She looked up at Naruto as he was nearly one and a half heads taller than her, and grinned. "I'll see you around then," she said happily and skipped away, a confident smile upon her lips. Naruto chuckled at her departure. She could be such a hopeless romantic sometimes. But he really felt that her words had been true and that he should probably follow them. Probably.

Naruto sighed and slid back down the tree again, bringing his hands up behind his head to make a cushion against the tree's hard bark. Looking out upon the cemetery around him he found that none of the birds had returned. And now looking closely, he found that even small, worthless insects had chosen to withdraw from their usual activities above ground and instead opt to stay it at home. Naruto frowned. He wasn't much of a naturalist person, someone who looked at nature and divined from them, but he knew something would have to be wrong if all life around him had retreated back into a safe place.

A slight chilling ran down the blonde's back. He had the suddenly feeling that bloodthirsty eyes were locked onto him. He spun and looked hard at the forest to his left. He saw nothing move. Naruto gulped and stood again, jumping up and down slightly to get more blood circulating around his body to warm himself up. But though his body was warm, he felt cold. Even chilled.

A twig snap behind him. He whirled around, stepping back from the tree when he saw what stood on the other side of it.

Behind the tree stood or hovered, he couldn't tell, was a collosal beast. At least as tall as a three cars stacked upon each other and that many cars long, the thing had the head of a lion, it's muzzle more elongated like a dog's. Its mouth hung open, its tongue lolling side to side in its huge maw, saliva spindling down from the jagged protrusions of bone Naruto presumed were teeth. The creature's body was scaled in dark purple scales, taut muscles rippling under its belly and neck where the scales failed to cover. A rope swung around and Naruto found that the creature had a tail that had a stinger placed at the end like a scorpion's.

A single thought flashed in Naruto's mind. _Demon._ The thing took a gigantic step forward, crushing the tree with cruel talons of eagles, and Naruto took a few hasty steps back from it, tripping in his fear. He hit the ground hard, but he hardly noticed it. His breaths were coming faster now, and he could feel his chest rising and falling as adrenaline pumped through his veins.

Naruto bit in a hard breath and jumped to his feet. Turning away from the monster Naruto ran with all his life. There was a slight slope down to the tombstones he had earlier been looking at with much calm, and it now served as a way to increase his speed. He could feel the thing was close to him as he reached the edge of the cemetery where it sprouted stones. He leaped over a few, threading between others, trying to make it to the forest. Something told him that if he was able to make it to the dense wood that seemed to determined from letting him reach it, the thing chasing would not be able to follow. The thought of it being too large to fit built his confidence. Naruto took it and ran with all his might. But as fast as he ran the beast was still closing in on his heels.

Risking a glance over his shoulder Naruto saw that it was only a few metres away from him, loping easily over the tombstones, crushing some unfortunate ones on the way. Naruto suppressed a scream and ran even harder, nearly tripping in his ecstasy to be rid of his pursuer.

A dark shadow suddenly blotted out the ground directly in front and around him. On instinct Naruto threw himself to the side, crashing up against the decapitated trunk of a long deceased tree. Quickly rolling to his feet, he looked back and saw the beast's enormous clawed paw mauling the ground where he had just been moments earlier. Naruto gulped and looked around for the forest. It was on the other side of the beast.

Almost in response to his gaze, the creature turned its evil incarnate head on Naruto and started to advance towards him. Naruto, still keeping his eyes on the beast, recoiled and crashed again into the stump he had thrown himself into earlier. Again he picked himself up and backed away. But he knew that it was no use. The creature was already so close he could smell its disgusting breath of rotting bodies and blood. Naruto nearly gagged.

Looking up Naruto saw that it had now drawn back its colossal paw, talons and all, and was about to make the final strike. There was no way Naruto could survive a collision with a truck going at 200 miles an hour, then there was no way he could survive this thrashing. It was the end.

The claws stopped drawing back to the sky, blocking the sun out, having reached its optimum height for maximum damage. The creature took in a wheezing breath and the claws came down.

–

Darkness overwhelmed him. Blood splattered around him. Something pressed Naruto to the ground, but strangly he felt no pain. He opened his eyes, black hair brushing his face, and found that someone was holding him down, protecting him from the creature's attack.

"Sasuke..." Naruto gasped. The demon moved away from him and stood up, turning to face the foe. His back was torn up and bleeding. Naruto stared at the blood dripping down, then keeled over as sharp knives seemed to stab into his own. Something Sasuke had said earlier spiked up in his mind. _Our lifelines are connected._ Again he looked up and found that the other was staring down at him, his eyes burning red.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto nearly chuckled at this ludicrous question.

"Are _you_ alright is what _I_ should be asking," he replied. Sasuke offered him a hand. Taking it Naruto got to his feet, just in time to see the beast launch another attack. "Look-"

The beast lunged forward and came just feet away when it suddenly stopped, right in mid air. Naruto tore his eyes away from the thing to look as Sasuke. The demon had his arm stretched out, a clawed hand out before him, just inches away from the beast's nose. A kind of liquid mist had formed around the monster, trailing from Sasuke's hand, making a sort of prison. He drew his hand back slightly then swung his arm. The ball of energy, monster and all, were flung hard into the trees lining the forest. Along the ground where they had flown over the ground was all mangled, bits of rock and rubble protruding from the ground at various angles. Around where the monster had landed a light fog of debris and dust encircled around, hiding the creature from view.

The mist suddenly cleared and the monster could be seen running towards them again. Its movements were now more wild and out of control, foam was throffing out of its mouth. Naruto flinched back. Even though Sasuke had been able to deflect the monster's last attack, Naruto somehow found it hard to believe that the demon could do it again. How could someone do it if what they were fighting was at least four times as tall and many many more times as long?

In almost a response to Naruto's doubts, Sasuke half turned to him.

"Just stay right here," he said. "I'll make sure it doesn't get to you." He turned back again and began to walk toward the charging monster.

"Wait!" Naruto dashed forward and grabbed the demon back by the wrist. "But what about you? Will you be okay?"

In response, a strange, pained expression crossed over Sasuke's face, but it was soon gone, replaced by a cocky smirk. Naruto then noticed black smoke-like markings curving around his face, coming up from his neck onto the left side of his face. His left eye went yellow.

"You forget I'm a demon of the highest rank. I'm not going to let such small fry beat me."

And he was gone. Naruto hadn't even felt Sasuke break his hold and he turned quickly to see where he had gone.

The creature had now crossed half the distance between it and him. It was about to make a giant leap, but it was stopped in mid air and then plunged down into the ground. The impact formed a gaping hole. Now that he was so far away, Sasuke appeared as a very small figure at the end of the monster's nose. He jumped off of it just as the monster stirred. Its whole body seemed to shake and a deafening growl emitted from between the gaps of its teeth.

At the horrid sound, Naruto flinched back again. The more he saw of the creature the more it repulsed him.

The ground shook a little and Naruto saw the monster rise up again, Sasuke standing before it. Again it roared. At the same time, it made a furious swipe for the demon, insanity in its eyes. Naruto nearly cried out in fear, but after the paw passed, there was no Sasuke there. Naruto looked around and caught a slight movement above the beast's head. He looked up. It was Sasuke.

Naruto looked again at the monster, trying to determine if it had found its prey. It had. Hissing, saliva scuttling out of its mouth, it rose up on its hind legs, jaws opened wide to gulp in its prey. But the opposite happened.

A whole lake of burning red fire suddenly poured down onto the monster. Engulfing it. Devouring it. Too surprised to react at first, the monster writhed in pain on the ground like a dying worm, its likeness to this small creature increasing in each second. In a matter of seconds the creature had shrunk to half its original size, still tossing and turning in the flames.

By this time Sasuke had made his way back to Naruto, but Naruto hadn't noticed. His eyes were riveted on the monster's cremation.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto snapped away from the flames to find Sasuke by his side. In some small corner of his mind he noticed that the black marks on Sasuke's face had disappeared, his eyes back to their original onyx black. Naruto nodded to the question, but he knew it looked more like a sudden seizure than a sign of confirmation. He cleared his throat.

"I'll be okay," he said. Sasuke nodded.

"We should go," he said, turning back toward the main school buildings. "Some more of those ghouls may come." He started to walk and Naruto jogged to catch up.

"Ghouls? That was a ghoul?" Naruto asked when he caught up. Again Sasuke nodded. "Was it a uhhh demon?"

"Sort of," Sasuke replied. "A ghoul is a bit like a sub division of demon. They're extremely weak with hardly any sort brainpower, so they're a bit more like animals than actual demons." Naruto shuddered. _So there are some even more powerful..._

"Why did it come?" Naruto asked, knowing that Sasuke probably did not know, but even if he did, he'd lie to hide the truth.

"It was on orders from a higher power."

"Higher power? What orders?" Naruto's mind was still swirling with names and terms from that morning, so he had trouble processing anything. Not to mention the incident just then. He suddenly became even more glad that there was no classes that day.

"Higher power as in an entity that can think and exert its authority over another, like that ghoul," Sasuke replied. They had just exited the cemetery and Naruto didn't know where they were going but they seemed to be heading for the largest school building. Why he had no idea. He hoped Sasuke knew.

"So like, another demon?" he asked, connections starting to form in his mind.

"Perhaps." Naruto pouted at Sasuke's lack of conviction. He was sure that the demon knew the answer and was just being a bastard and not telling him. He sighed. He might as well go about asking about his second question.

"Do you know what these orders were?" Naruto asked. To him, it just seemed like a random attack on a cemetery. He had just gotten in the way. _Then Sasuke saved me... screw him, now I have to pay him back!_ Sasuke smirked, making it seem as though he knew what Naruto was thinking. This ticked the blonde off.

"You're so easy to read," the demon said, turning away, the smirk still on his face. Naruto reddened.

"At least I'm open like that," Naruto retorted. "You always act like there's a chip on your shoulder." He regretting saything that as soon as it left his mouth. Sasuke stopped but didn't turn back.

"I don't care what others think of me," he said shortly. It was well hidden, but Naruto heard the lie and hurt in the demon's voice. He then started to walk again, this time more quickly.

Rooted to the spot, Naruto couldn't make himself move as he watched Sasuke's retreating maimed back. Why had he said that? Looking down he found a small rock near his foot. He kicked it.

_Shit!_ Sasuke disappeared around the corner of the building and Naruto finally found the strength to move again. Taking off at a run, he ran to the building and around the corner. But he found the other side deserted.

"What...?" Naruto looked around then ran in a random direction. He'd search the whole place to find the demon.

–

It took Naruto at least ten minutes to find the demon on the roof of the school. When he had burst out through the exit of the roof, he had collapsed to the ground. That was probably the only reason Sasuke hadn't immediately run again. Instead he had come over and helped Naruto.

"Dobe," he said while Naruto gained back his breath. "What are you running around the school for?" Naruto gulped down a few breaths before replying.

"Looking for you, you bastard," Naruto managed to squeeze out. Naruto stood up and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for what I said before!"

There was a silence and Naruto looked up to try and gauge the demon's reaction. When Naruto looked up he found Sasuke's face was quite blank. He looked surprised, if anything. The side of his lip suddenly curled up and he started to laugh.

"W-what's so funny?!" Naruto demanded.

"You're just such an an idiot," Sasuke replied, smiling. Naruto scowled and Sasuke laughed again, but Naruto was glad of this. He then sat back down on the ground and continued to work off the oxygen debt he had built up as he had run around the school.

–

Naruto yawned and closed his workbook, pushing back from his table on his rolling chair. His pen was still in his hand and he twirled it. As it did light reflected off of it and bounced onto the wall making interesting patterns.

"You probably should get on with your work." Naruto turned slightly so he could see Sasuke. The demon was lying on his bed reading one of his textbooks.

"You would think that a demon would have other more important things to do, but no, apparently not," Naruto said drily, rolling back to his desk and continuing his work. It was something about Ultra Nationalism. Whatever that was. Sasuke chuckled behind him.

"Fine." Naruto heard his bed creak slightly and suddenly there was black hair brushing against his face. "What's the problem?" Naruto scowled at him and lifted the book up, trying to smack the prick in the face with it. Unfortunately a hand stopped him. Sasuke pulled the book out of Naruto's grasp and went back to the bed, sitting down as he read what was written on it. "Ultra Nationalism? That one?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied. He slouched down onto his table, crumpling up a few papers under him. A bird flew past his window and he followed its flight until it disappeared into a tree. He watched the tree for a few minutes before giving up on seeing it again, instead turning back to see how the demon was progressing in understanding his work. When he turned he found that Sasuke had fallen asleep, lightly clutching the book so that it didn't fall to the ground.

A few seconds passed while Naruto got past the shock of a demon sleeping. _He must be tired from fighting... that would make sense. _When he had finally got passed it, he rose silently and tiptoed over to get his book back. He touched the book and Sasuke's eyes flew open.

"Sorry," he muttered getting up. He held out the book.

"Thanks," he said, taking it. He returned to his table and set the book down on it. "You wanna take a nap?" Sasuke shook his head.

"I'm o-" he started to say, but a knock at the door interrupted him. Naruto's head jerked to the door so he didn't see Sasuke stand and hurry to the window, only the opening of the latch told him something had happened behind him. He turned slightly to find Sasuke half out the window. He was about to call out to him but the demon put a finger to his lips. Naruto bit back and instead went to the door. Again the person on the other side of it knocked, this time more impatiently.

"Coming, coming," Naruto called as he flicked the catch on the door. He opened the door, nearly banging it into whoever was on the other side. "Oh, hey Kiba," Naruto said with fake calm. He was actually more concerned whether Sasuke had made it out of the window yet. Or rather, where he was planning to go when outside of it. Outside Naruto's window was a sheer drop down to the ground. No window sills to use as hand holds.

"Heya Naruto," Kiba said jubilantly. He was grinning widely which made Naruto feel suddenly suspicious.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Kiba laughed.

"I live here too, you know," he said.

"Not in my room you don't," Naruto shot back.

"Wake up on the wrong side of bed or something?" Kiba asked. Naruto scowled at him.

"Something like that..." he replied, thoughts of the monster slipping into his mind.

"Haha. Alright then," Kiba said as he leaned against the door frame. "Were you talking to someone? I thought I heard your voice..."

"Nah. I was just talking to myself," Naruto prattled on, trying to sound convincing. He waved a hand through his hair in his agitation. He was unused to lying. He had lied a lot last year, but he had talked to so little people this year he had become out of practice. _Might as well get some practice now then,_ he thought to himself. "So you slept over at Hinata's dorm last night?" Kiba went red.

"Uhh no," he said quickly. "I ended up sleeping over at Kankuro's with Gaara. The project took longer to finish than we thought."

"Ah I see..."

"Well, I have to meet Hinata at the cafeteria... so..."

"I'll see you then," Naruto said quickly, smiling.

"Yeah..."

Naruto said goodbye to Kiba and closed the dividing door, his hand still on the doorknob. Noticing this, he let go and walked to his bed, standing in front of it, but not facing it. Instead he faced his wall._Having to hide Sasuke away whenever someone comes makes me feel like a small girl hiding her prince charming away in the cupboard._ A cupboard was all that stood against the wall, that and his bag.

_Wait! Why am I the girl? Sasuke should be the girl! He has longer hair than me, and his eyelashes are really long too... _ Naruto flopped backwards onto his bed. Some dust that had accumulated since the beginning of the day exploded up into the air, making Naruto cough slightly. The bed was soft but the mattress underneath was just a piece of hardboard, which created a strange sensation when he lay on it. Naruto curled up on his right side and hugged his pillow to his chest. _Why am I thinking something like this...? It makes it sound as if..._ His eyes drooped and he was asleep, his chest falling up and down slowly against the pillow.

The blinds that clothed the sides of the window billowed a little in an invisible breeze, a figure dropping through them. Landing lightly on the floorboards they straightened, the wings on their back flexing then drawing back into a closed position. White feathers fell to the floor, making no noise as they landed.

Naruto flinched somewhat as arms wrapped around him and picked him up off his bed, but he did not wake. The pillow fell from his arms, making a small thud when it hit the floor. And they were gone, the only hints of what had happened were snow white feathers on the ground and the billowing curtains.

* * *

Man. It took longer to correct all the spelling mistakes than to write the A/N at the beginning (my spelling = epic phail, spellcheck on the other hand is full of win). So incase you don't understand, Naruto just got kidnapped by a 'figure' with 'snow white wings' xD I wonder who....? Seriously. Please review and tell me who you think it was!!


	3. Dark, dark cell

WHOO!! Finally an update from Nare, huh? Sorry about that huge hiatus... School has been horrendous, especially how I have departmental exams coming up... HOWEVER! Apparently writing stories helps in writing essays, so I'll hopefully be updating on here more. Hopefully.

--

The demon woke with a light throbbing resounding in his head, making it hard to think straight. Sasuke winced a little as a sudden jab of pain ricocheted over his left temple. When the pain had subsided he sat up, and cracked an eye open. He was sitting on a roof, overlooking a cemetery. No surprises here. He had clambered up there not long ago to hide from whoever had decided to pay his charge a visit. He clawed a nearby tile in frustration. He'd fallen asleep, just like some amateur.

Sasuke stood abruptly, but swayed. _I feel like I got drugged..._ he thought vaguely as he steadied himself. Hopefully not much time had passed in which Naruto could have gotten in trouble. _He hasn't changed much._

With caution he sidled over to the edge of the roof and judged the distance to Naruto's window. It wasn't that far. Just the angle was a bit of a problem. Sasuke crouched and gripped the edge of the roof. He was about to propel himself off the roof when he keeled over, nearly fall off the edge, a sharp pain wreaking havoc on his back. The fight earlier had definitely weakened him. But only superficially. Only in this body. As soon as they had returned to his room, Naruto had immediately forced Sasuke to let him bandage the wounds on his back.

Again the demon positioned himself to have the dive, but something caught his eye. Looking straight down and a little to the right, Sasuke saw that, though slightly obscured by a clump of bushes, there was a white line encircling around the building.

Apprehension a fear suddenly blossomed in his chest and he dropped down onto the ground, a few feet away from the line. He walked to it and immediately knew what it was. It was a Spell Pentacle. Cursing he made a run for the wall, scaling it by running straight up it. Reaching Naruto's window where he leaped in, landing on the table.

"Naruto!" he yelled as soon as he was in, scanning the room. It was deserted. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Stepping off the table he observed something white on the floor. He stooped and picked it up. It was a snow white feather. The feather crumbled and fell as dust to the floor at his touch.

Unconsciously, Sasuke's eyes turned red and where he was gazing at the floor was suddenly engulfed in flames. The brilliancy brought the demon back to earth. He quickly doused the fire with a quick counter spell then turn to Naruto's desk. After a few passes over the table he located a blue marker. He was looking for chalk, but the marker would have to do. Why would a teenager have chalk anyway?

Stepping into the centre of the room, Sasuke cleared it of a bag, a few papers and a textbook, throwing all of these onto the bed without much grace or thought of their fate. He was only thinking of his task. Now that the floor was cleared of all obstructions Sasuke uncapped the marker and began to draw on the floor. First he drew one large circle so that it took up the whole space. Next was a pentacle, it fit snugly inside the circle. After drawing another circle, this one inside the pentacle, the demon began to write strange marks and runes inside, making a rough border in the inner most circle. He was soon done this task and made a much smaller pentacle, marking the centre of the circle. Stepping back Sasuke surveyed his work, checking for any spelling mistakes. There were none.

The demon took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to pull power into his left hand. This happened in a matter of seconds, the energy gathered in his hand so dense and full of power it made the air around it spark and crackle. The energy met an apex and Sasuke threw it at the circle, right in the centre of the centre most pentacle. There was a burst of blinding light from the lines of the circle and pentacles, but he didn't close his eyes. He had seen it many times, and besides, it would not harm him.

A few seconds passed and the light disappeared replaced with a girl sitting in the circle. She looked surprised at this and it took her a few seconds to become accustomed to her new surroundings. Finally realizing that Sasuke was there the girl looked up.

"Sasuke-sama!"

Sakura had been summoned. Sasuke grimaced. He would have liked to summon someone from his own command but there had been no time. He didn't even have the right materials to make a cross-veil summoning. In almost response to his lack of equipment, Sasuke dropped the marker back onto the table before Sakura asked him why he had been holding one.

Sakura stood and brushed off her skirt, again looking around the room, but this time including the summoning pentacle into her observations. Her head turned slightly as she read around the circle the runes that the other demon in the room had written there. She looked up again at Sasuke.

"Um, why did you summon me?" she asked, blushing for reasons that eluded and didn't hold any significance to Sasuke. His only goal was to go retrieve Naruto. And he needed Sakura's help in that, even if it was as backup. _Third-grade backup at that..._

"I'll be enlisting your help as your superior with a A ranked mission," he said quickly, brushing off his left hand in an effort to get the residual magic off of it. Summoning wasn't his forte and it always left a slight itch on the hand he used.

"I'll be happy to help," Sakura replied, perky as ever. Sasuke winced. "What's the mission?" The dark haired demon turned back to the window to jump out again before replying.

"Naruto's been kidnapped."

–

The room was dark and smelt musty. The walls were covered in what looked like moss in the dim light, but Naruto couldn't be sure. Naruto sat curled in the centre of this room, looking vaguely out of the bars that comprised one of his cell's walls. Why he was there, he had no idea. How he had gotten there, he had a better idea of. Having woken up a few hours ago, he had found himself being carried by someone. He hadn't been able to really get a good look at them as they're promptly knocked him out again, but he had noticed something greatly disturbing about them. They had had feathery, white wings.

_But why?_ Naruto thought, rocking lightly back and forth as he stared at the bars. The corridor just out of his cell was only marginally lighter so there wasn't much to look at. _Wait! Perhaps this is punishment for summoning Sasuke!_ A chill went down Naruto's back.

"It's not my fault though!" he exclaimed, looking his balance and falling to the floor as he did. Immediately he rolled up again, the ground being the epitome of grimy.

"What's not your fault?"

Naruto, startled, looked around for where this voice had come from. He found its owner straight in front of him. On the other side of the bars that kept him in the cell he found that there was a person crouching down so that their eyes were at the same level. If he had been able to see his eyes. On their face the person had on a strange orange mask. It was spiraled and the spirals came around where the right eye should have been, forming a small hole. This hole was empty, but Naruto felt that there was indeed an eye there, looking out at him. Other than this brightly coloured mask and the spikey black hair that hallowed around it the person had on a dark, black cloak with red clouds on it.

Naruto, unable to think of anything to say to this strange person, said nothing. This situation continued for a few minutes, neither of them speaking or moving. This strange cold war was ended when Naruto heard footsteps approaching them. He looked away from the orange masked person and saw that there was now another person standing next to them. This one was also wearing a black cloak with red clouds, but that was where the similarities ended. This new person appeared to be female and had bluish purple hair down up in a bun with a flower, golden eyes with thick blue eye shadow around them, and a pierced lower lip. This particular feature would normally lower how well someone would look, but on this woman, Naruto thought it accentuated her beauty.

She was looking straight at him, nearly glaring. Naruto blushed and looked down. He heard fabric rustle and he looked up slightly to see the woman crouch down next to 'Orange Mask' and knock him on the head. This surprised him.

"What _are_ you doing, Tobi?" the woman asked, her face still blank. 'Orange Mask', his name is Tobi Naruto reminded himself, rubbed the top of his head where her fist had made contact with it.

"Tobi was talking to foxy boy," Tobi replied, employing a childish tone. Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Foxy boy? Who are you to talk, Mr. I-talk-in-the-first-person._ Tobi drew himself up while still in crouching position so that he nearly was as tall as the woman. "Tobi is a good boy!" The woman sighed, exasperated. Naruto felt sorry for her, having to deal with such an idiot.

"I know Tobi. Just don't get in too much trouble. Pein will get angry at you," she said, patting Tobi on the head. _Pain? Actual ouch-pain?_ Naruto thought. _If that's some one's name, they're definitely going to be a lot stranger than this Tobi._

"Tobi can't talk to foxy boy?" Tobi asked, cocking his head to one side. All these actions and words reminded Naruto of a small Chihuahua: small, orange and annoying.

"You can talk to him..." the woman said. "Just don't talk too much." The woman rose, looking again at Naruto, making him look down again. "Later go see Deidara, alright?"

"Un!" The woman then left the way she had came, into the darkness. A few moments again passed.

"Who was she?" Naruto asked, deciding to break the silence first.

"Oh? That's Konan-san," Tobi replied. Naruto could practically hear the smile that was probably on his face. Tobi rose a little and changed his posture so that he now sat on the ground instead of crouching. Much better for blood circulation you see?

"So... uhh... where are we?" Naruto asked. He felt apprehensive talking to the people who had kidnapped him, but he really needed to know where he was. And it was this compulsive desire that drove him to get information out of this Tobi.

"I'm not allowed to tell you that." His voice had changed, shocking Naruto. Not only had it deepened, Tobi had also used 'I' not 'Tobi'. It was almost as if it was another personality which had taken hold of him. Naruto laughed lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, o-okay," he said. The voice before had sounded blood curdling and for a second he had thought he'd seen a red eye look through the hole in the mask. It reminded him of Sasuke's red eyes. But just where was the emo-bean demon anyway? Naruto sighed and decided that the bars to his cell were probably strong enough to withstand any angry, provoked attack from his bi-polar neighbour.

"So why am I 'foxy-boy' then?" he asked. Before him the strange little man sat still for a few moments, then his head clicked to one side, as if his neck had suddenly snapped from the weight of his...head. Naruto drew back at this creepy gesture. Tobi's shoulders started to shake a little and a soft, yet piercing humming started to emanate from behind the orange mask. It became louder and louder and Naruto realized it was... laughter.

"Ha....ha....ha....HA...HA.....HA!"

The black shoulders were now shaking uncontrollably and Naruto, too scared to move, sat and watched the man named Tobi wither away into insanity. Suddenly, Tobi lunged forward, arms flung through the bars of the dark cell, grouping and swinging towards the captive. Naruto tried to push himself backwards, legs pumping against the cold, stone floor, but it gave too little hold and he was pulled by strong arms towards the cold bars and towards the swirling red eye.

--

Bright, sunny days never ranked highly with Sasuke. Even when he was a small little demon, living a some-what carefree demon life, he'd always hated the way the sun would beat down at him, glowering at him. So it was no surprise that the demon's mood was now worse than merely agitated at his pink head lackey. Another reason for his unhappiness with the sunny day was that there was also very little cloud coverage. So if he was going to fly and not alarm MI6 to so called 'alien activity' he'd have to do it in some extremely secluded location with a number of concealing charms in place.

Sasuke twitched the thick, itching cord away from his neck, rubbing slightly where it had just been. Around his neck hung a heavy slab of carved stone, the grooves in it glimmering slightly. It was one of the aforementioned concealing charms and one of Sasuke's most hated. He understood the fact that the itchy cord that held the charm couldn't go or be changed for a newer, less annoying one, due to certain spells that had been cast on both the charm itself and its partner making it impossible for even a high level demon to separate the two. In fact, only an Overlord would stand a chance of breaking the bond. Powerful stuff, ancient magic.

Sasuke stopped, turned and was nearly bowled into by the smaller, female demon he had enlisted into his forces. Sakura blushed deeply and stepped back a few paces, all the while looking intently at the ground. He was beginning to regret recruiting her as back-up. Just her track record in the Demon Realm as a member of a squad he had led, kept Sasuke from leaving her behind. She was a ditz, no denying it, but she did have a certain aptitude to a few streams of demon magic that Sasuke tended to fail at.

"Where are we now?" asked Sasuke, briskly, before he turned and continued walking up the hill. They were on the side of a sizable hillock overlooking busy London. Around them to the left was mainly flat grassland but to their right was a densely populated forest. A forest with much potential for demon flying activities. Behind him, Sakura stopped for a moment to catch her breath before replying to his demand.

"We're nearly ten miles from the centre of London," she said, "although I'm not sure exactly what National Park this hill is a part of." Sasuke turned slightly and glared back at her. Every second lost was another second that Naruto could be in danger, or in pain, or being tortured, or being... killed.

_Calm!_ Sasuke ordered his hyperventilating brain. _He's only been missing for, at a max, nine hours. What's the worst that could happen to him?_ The demon inwardly cursed his carelessness yet again for letting Naruto get taken right under his nose, though he knew that he would know if Naruto had ...died. Sasuke brought a hand up over his chest and felt the faint throbbing of an active heart. Yes, he would know if something of that nature had happened to the blonde, since, if something did, the same would happen to him. _And you're not dead, so nothing bad has happened_, he told himself. _So just concentrate on what's important._

Breathing deeply, Sasuke looked around for a nice piece of flat land. He found one a few metres from him. Walking up to it he started to scuff away at the grass, making a rough circle. He grimaced at the hardly circular circle he had formed. Back in the academy he would have failed badly if he'd made a circle like this for even a rudimentary spell, but this would have to do.

"Sakura," he said roughly. "Have you got that bag I gave you?"

The pink head girl began rummaging in her own backpack and soon pulled out a smallish, dull orange, drawstring bag. She handed this to Sasuke and he yanked it open. Inside were a few dozen white feathers that he'd collected from Naruto's room earlier. It had been difficult as he couldn't actually touch them, so he'd settled for using some of Naruto's stationary as chopsticks.

Dropping down to the ground in front of his spell circle, Sasuke turned the bag over, shaking it slightly so that the feathers floated down where he wanted them. A few dropped outside of the circle, but the majority made port in it. The feathers stopped falling out and Sasuke threw the bag back to Sakura, not caring if she caught it or not. Yes, the bag had nostalgic qualities but none of them mattered now. The person who'd given it to him no longer remembered him.

Then reaching behind him and into his pocket, Sasuke pulled out a small stake like object. It looked rather like a giant nail, but he always insisted it was a stake. A nail just sounded dumb. Gripping the stake with his right hand he ran his left hand through with it, the blood from the wound splattering onto the feathers in the circle dying them a deep red. Sasuke winced a little as he pulled the stake out of his hand. He'd done this many times, but the feeling of something pulling through his hand always made a chill go down his spine.

"Sasuke-sama!"

Sasuke turned and found Sakura again behind him with a horrified expression on her face. "Wh-what-"

"I would have thought you'd studied blood spells," he said in reply to this expression. He straightened his left arm and tugged at the sleeve so that it was fairly tort. Then with his right hand, he ripped the fabric into a long strip and began wrapping it around his injured hand. He finished quickly, the credit of experience, and turned his attention back to the circle. With authority he placed his right hand, palm down, on the side of the circle closest to him so that only the tip of his middle finger was inside. Taking a deep breath Sasuke reached inside of himself and pulled out his power, channeling it through his hand, into the circle, into the feathers.

There were no runes in the circle which normally spelled disaster but Sasuke had bypassed this law with his blood sacrifice and now he formed the runes in his mind. The circle shone and each of the feathers in it began to float up high above the two demon's heads. Sasuke looked up at them as he held onto the spell, preventing it from evoking just yet. The feathers floated up higher and higher and when they were about five metres above them, Sasuke suddenly relinquished his hold on the spell. The feathers shone brightly, flashing once then they all disintegrated into dust. The dust wafted down and Sasuke caught a handful. Right when he touched them he began to see shards of memory like broken pieces of glass within the waterfall of dust.

White wings.

White hair.

Purple eyes.

A window. Naruto's window. And through the window dropped a tall figure carrying a smaller boy with blonde hair. _Naruto._

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger but let the spell continue to show him the location of the feather's owner. The pieces of glass shattered and reformed into a larger piece. The surface warped and rippled then showed an image of a dark forest. From this viewpoint, the focus of the mirror zoomed in, whirling around then slowed down as it came to an ancient looking castle. The stones that made its foundations looked centuries old, yet it was clear that there were lifeforms there. Sasuke tightened his hold on his magic and tried to make the mirror continue its decent into the castle but when it seemed as though it would work, the image suddenly blurred and disappeared. Sasuke swore and stood.

"Um, Sasuke-sama.... what was that?" Sakura asked.

"It was a rebound," Sasuke replied. "There's a shield around that castle preventing any magical presence from entering without a physical presence." He rocked back on his feet and sat on the ground. Rebounds also tended to leave the caster a bit out of breath. He looked up at Sakura. "Do you know that place"

"Huh? The castle?"

Sasuke nodded. Sakura touched her finger to her chin as she thought if she did. "Yeah. I think so. I think it's Leishtaker Castle." She turned a little to the left and raised an arm. "It's that way."

"Okay," Sasuke mumbled to himself. He stood abruptly and started to walk further up the hill. Behind him he heard Sakura covering the magic circle with surrounding grass and rocks. "Thanks."

Sakura looked up, startled and smiled. "No problem." Sasuke chose to ignore this, as he could think of nothing to say in response. He tensed and large, leathery wings exploded out of his back.

--

Naruto was troubled. His breathing was irregular and he was worried he was in shock. He opened an eye a crack and saw that he was again on stone floor. _Damn._ Lying on his side on his arm was becoming rather uncomfortable so he sat up and decided to look around. This room looked similar to the cell had last been in, but it was slightly larger and actually had a proper door. Which was now opening.

Naruto drew up quickly to the wall behind him, nearly winding himself. He tried to get up, scared that it was another crazed man coming through the door, but found that his hands were bound together. A quick glance behind told him that there was a thick piece of rope binding around his hands. He tried to yank them apart but the rope was far stronger than the teenager. Giving up, Naruto looked back at the door and hoped his death wouldn't be too painful.

The wooden door creaked open. Naruto caught his breath. And in came a tall man. He had very broad shoulders and there seemed to be a certain blue tinge to his skin. It took Naruto a while to make his way up the black cloaked man, but he was shocked when he got to his face. Along his neck where it attached to his head were long slits, on both sides. And this, coupled with the skin, made Naruto think of sushi. Very dangerous sushi with a huge sword. It twitched.

"Sorry about Tobi earlier. He hadn't taken his medication for today," the blue man said in a very gentlemanly way.

"Th-that's fine," Naruto automatically replied, still shocked_. Were those gills real_? Naruto shifted uneasily against the wall, glancing up at the blue man. The blue man looked back.

"I'm Kisame, Galanaid Demon, rank Lord," he said.

"Uhh, okay..." Naruto said uneasily. He had been listening to Sasuke's explanation about demons earlier, but he didn't remember anything to do with "Galanaids" or ranks. He took a deep breath, rallying his courage. "W-what's a Galanaid?" he asked.

Kisame blinked a little, apparently surprised. Then he chuckled. "I'd of thought that Vassel you were with earlier would have told you everything," he said, then cleared his throat. "Galanaid is a type of demon who mainly use Water magic. A Lord or Vassal is the rank the demon is. Technically any type of demon can become any rank, but since certain types are better at different things, it gives them advantage."

"So... who's higher? Lord or Vassal?" At first the blue man chuckled, but it seemed to have a sharp edge to it which reminded Naruto that this Kisame _was_ with the people who had kidnapped him. Or demons, as it seemed to be.

"There are four main ranks you can work yourself into: Warlord, Lord, Noble and Servant. Warlord being the highest. In addition to that there are two special ranks: Overlord and Vassal," Kisame said. "Overlords are the leaders of the demon world. In total there can only be nine in existance at any time."

"So then the Vassal is the follower of the Overlord?" Naruto asked. He'd learnt something about Lords and Vassals in his history class, although they didn't talk much about demons.

Kisame nodded. "Very good. Although, the Overlord must elect their own, and only one, demon to become their Vassal." The big man turned and beckoned to Naruto to get up. "Q and A is over for now. Gotta get you to the boss."

Naruto nodded and stood shakily to his feet, walking to the door that Kisame held open.

"So... Sasuke would be a Vassal to an Overlord?" he asked. Kisame's gills flared.

"Sasuke... He...," Kisame started. "You should ask him that yourself." He turned and led the way down the hall. Naruto followed quickly and was engulfed in freezing wind when he stepped out. He shivered and looked around. The way Kisame was going was lit up with flaming torches, but the other way was in complete darkness. A glow howling voice floated up from that way making Naruto shudder involuntarily. He turned and quickly ran after Kisame, not wanting to be left there alone.

_Why wouldn't he tell me? _Naruto thought as he caught up to Kisame. _Who _is _Sasuke's Overlord...?_

--

How was that? Bit rusty? Please give a review as to how I can improve -bows- See you guys in the next chapter~!


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